Anti-Bullying

“Schools which excel at tackling bullying have created an ethos of good behaviour where pupils treat one another and the school staff with respect because they know that this is the right way to behave.”

DfE, Preventing & Tackling Bullying, March 2014

At Immanuel College Preparatory School we are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all of our pupils so they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable at our school. If bullying does occur, all pupils should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a TELLING school. This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is encouraged to tell the staff, through regular reminders about expectations of good behaviour and how they can help to keep our school a “safe and Secure” environment. As well as ensuring that we have a culture in which everybody has the right to be treated with respect, we also recognise that pupils who are bullying need to learn different ways of behaving.

Our pupils are taught that bullying is the use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person. Bullying is defined as deliberately hurtful behaviour, repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves. Our staff are trained to recognise the variety of forms that bullying can take, such as emotional, physical and verbal as well as how to spot the signs of abuse and what to do if they have any concerns. We have a clear set of procedures to follow should there be any cases of bullying.

Our anti-bullying policy is balanced with a pro-active approach that promotes positive behaviour management and where staff use specific verbal praise to re-enforce and extend good behaviour, rewarding good, kind and thoughtful behaviour within classes and around the school, with stickers, notes home and verbal praise. We believe that adults should act as role models to the pupils in their language and behaviour with a zero tolerance of shouting and sarcasm as well as any form of humiliating, threatening or intimidating language towards pupils or other adults within the school community.

We endeavour to prevent bullying through providing a rich curriculum in an effective learning environments in which:

pupils learn to take responsibility for their actions and behaviours both in school and in the wider community

all forms of bullying and harassment are challenged

pupils are supported to develop their social and emotional skills.

We mark an annual Anti-Bullying Week, which includes a whole-school assembly as well as class based activities, reinforcing the messages of the school. In addition Bullying Prevention activities may include at different times:

writing a set of school rules

signing a behaviour contract

writing stories or poems or drawing pictures about bullying

reading stories about bullying or having them read to a class or assembly